The present invention relates in general to devices for selectively opening and closing electrical circuits on a printed circuit board (PCB) and, more particularly, to a solder controlled device which presents an open circuit until initially soldered, for example by surface mount stencil print/reflow or through-hole wave solder processes, and thereafter can be opened by removing solder from the device and reclosed by reapplying solder to the device.
Many circuits embodied in printed circuit boards require temporary breaks or opens in one or more paths of the circuits. Currently, these breaks or opens are commonly provided by inserting switches or header/jumper devices into the circuit paths. Oftentimes, circuit breaks or opens are only required once or a limited number of times, for example for initial testing or installation of factory options on the circuit boards. For circuits requiring such a limited number of open/close operations, switches and/or header/jumper devices are overkill and add substantially to the cost of an assembled circuit board. In addition, if switches or two piece header/jumper devices are used, not only are they relatively expensive but there is a probability that the assembly person will forget to properly set the switches, fail to install the jumpers or will install the jumpers in the wrong position.
It is apparent that there is a need for a printed circuit board circuit control device which is inexpensive, reliable over a limited number of open/close operations and can be initially closed by means of conventional printed circuit board soldering operations. Preferably, the circuit control device would also provide emergency control elements which could be used to control closure of the circuit path in the event of failure of the circuit control device itself.